Arranging the music of one song...

Commandcom, aka Jorge Mira Boronat, is single-handedly making a home for the MSX on OCR: This is his third mix, and it's also the third mix he's done from an MSX game. They've also all been Konami games, which makes sense since the publisher had a strong presence on the platform. While many of us may never play an MSX game, the music still resonates outside the original demographic that did, and I'm really glad Jorge continues to drive that point home. Somebody else needs to step up to the plate and join him, but then again there are also plenty of games on other less common platforms that still need some sweet ReMixin' love. He writes:

"King Kong 2 on the MSX2 platform was an enigmatic game to me, as it was in Japanese when I played it and it was a sort of RPG. You played the son of Kong, trying to rescue your mum (not dad) who has been captured. The fact is that, as I couldn't (can't) read Japanese, (same happened with 'SD Snatcher' and 'Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake' but (some) 'key words' were in English) so I didn't actually advance much in the game. :P BUT I kept trying MAINLY because of THE MUSIC!!

And, those were the days of 'key codes' to save your game, so it was not the ideal scenario (Japanese and kanji codes to save your progress...mmmm) so, the fact is that I was very exposed to the tune of the first stage over and over (as I didn't save that much), which, I think, is a killer one! (and kept me coming back to the game). To me, it resounded like Adventure, Mystery and some Drama (basically, the three 'segments' of the song, in that order.)

Also, it has a chord progression which I am also paying tribute to with this mix! (So it is a double tribute!) The chord progression of the 1st segment (the 'Adventure' one) is one of my all-time-favourite chord progressions. You can find it in Salamander's Stage 5 ('Burn the wind') or in Galactic Attack's Stage 1 (Taito, Saturn, Arcade) When I'm on a deadline (and that happens quite often) that chord progression is, for me, a winner. Be it a documentary or a short movie or anything, it always works!!

My first intention was to make it 'a la Indiana Jones', a simple March, as it leads to. Then, I changed my mind to a 'Western', kinda 'Sunset Raiders' which could also work. The trouble of both is that (at least for me) they were quite 'lineal and obvious' and won't have fun doing them. SO I tried something else and stopped by 'Pirtates of the Caribbean'. THAT was fun!! (And it worked)

...I focused on 2 of the 3 parts of the song: The 'Adventure' (1st) and the 'Drama' (3rd). What did I use?

Cubase 5

EastWest Symphonic Orchestra

StormDrum2"

Nice. Jorge consistently provides really interesting anecdotal background on his experience playing the games he arranges, as well as insight into his creative thought process. It was worth explicitly mentioning the chord progression, for example, because it *is* relatively distinct. Things intro with piano and some solo winds to set the stage, then at 0'17" StormDrum makes itself known with big, rolling percussive gestures, paving the way for epic ensemble strings and beefy brass. zircon writes:

"Wow, I've never heard of this game at all, but the source tune is absolutely great! Also, I'm a huge fan of the soundtracks for the PotC trilogy, so now I really can't wait to hear what you've done.

I have to disagree with Darkesword that the samples are "obviously fake"... we've posted mixes with WAY more unrealistic sample usage. I think the samples are used very well here, especially because I own QLSO and I know how easy it is to make it sound bland and uninteresting. The rhythm section is solid as well, but maybe a little repetitive, with few changes to the rhythmic texture or the tempo/meter. I would have liked to hear some cool triplet fills for example."

To a trained and antagonistically observant ear, any sample library can sound artificial, but I'm gonna echo Andy in saying that this is pretty darn solid, and well-employed. Larry adds:

"Gotta agree with zircon in that this was a great source. Definitely a nice pirate/adventure feel to this one, Jorge. I just caught the remastered version in the inbox and had to shoot a comment here after taking a listen. Great work, keep them coming!"

Ditto that. While King Kong 2 isn't a game most listeners will be too intimate with, I think most of us appreciate a great melody, progression, arrangement, and epic, Pirates of the Carribean-style orchestral production, and that's what Jorge delivers.

Yep, you can't really miss the PotC feel in this one, which makes
it that much better in my opinion. The piano and strings were
excellent in this and it screams "we're going on an epic
journey". Love the way the drums were used here, not too loud,
but you have a great crisp sound to it. Great ending as well.

King Kong! All I know about Konami's handling of it is that he
appeared in Wai Wai World on the NES, but that was it

What you did with the source does indeed feel so much like that a
movie score in a way; starting with that gentle piano intro,
moving onto an interpretation of the theme that does strike
similar dynamic similarities to the main theme of Pirates of the
Caribbean (seemingly an intent due to the mix description), along
with some nice buildup work in the middle and variation on the
riff once more. It to me may sound like a straightforward
arrangement, but what was handled with the source even in the
lesser pronounced sections was highlighted remarkably well, and
thus I approve of your passion for all things MSX with what you
did.

Production wise, it managed to sound very sharp and well
established; the strings to me feel lush and them along with the
driving percussion are seen as key components for the track's
realisation. That piano to me does indeed sound very heavily
snapped though, which I'm not even sure is the intent of the
work, but if something like that could be more realised given the
nature of it being a 'key' instrument (double meaning?), then I
can see you going places for even a fourth MSX arrangement for
the site.

That said, hopefully you'll make a return in 2012 with more ways
to honor the system! I'll be keeping a hold on this one

If there's something I targeted to do with the 3 MSX mixes was,
far beyond a better or worse interpretation of the source, being
able to transmit the true feeling of excitement I had when I
played these games.

I'm 37 right now, and most of them were played when I was 13.

So SD Snatcher was a spionage trhill, Salamander a dangerous and
tragic epic space battle, and King Kong 2 a misterious and
powerfull adventure in Japanese that I never got to understand.

The second goal was, again beyond the scope of the site, a true
tribute to these genious that trough music and wonderfull games
made me felt true emotions in fornt of a computer.

And last, but not least, a vision of true REMAKES of these games
that, in my opinion, would prefectly suit these magnified
versions I wrote.

So, if by any chance Konami has plans to do so, needless to say I
would be trhilled to get the job, but please, whoever got it, I
wish they got to transmit this sense of excitement via
melody-based themes that I miss nowadays in recent games.

This is a very interesting song. I think that most orchestral
remixes which go for the movie soundtrack feeling end up sounding
too close to something e.g. Hans Zimmer would produce, loosing
their video game roots.

This, however, is different. Except for the string-heavy section
around 1:50, it never sounds too movie-ish; there's always a hint
of good ol' video game composition to be found in it.

Obviously, I haven't listened to all movie soundtracks out there,
so my comparison might be me just talking out of my ass, but
that's how I feel anyway. Great job.

the percussion really makes this exciting, and the constant
string arpeggios give a great sense of powerful adventure.
Commandcom really has a great ear for exciting arrangements, and
I am excited to see what he's got in store next.

This is a really cool arrangement; definitely Pirates of the
Caribbean-esque. I would say, though, that the PotC soundtracks
definitely has in general a more dire/urgent edge to them, but
this is definitely just as epic. The piano lead is amazing; I
just love how it flows.

I really like this a lot, but I do feel like something is
missing; there's just some level it doesn't quite hit, but it's
still an awesome song.

Feels great to have this one posted! I'd like to encourage all of
you to take a listen to the incredible work Konami did back in
the 80s with the MSX. There are, literally, dozens of
masterpieces from a musical and gaming perspective. Take a
particular look at 'King's Valley II', 'F1 Spirit', 'Space
Manbow', 'Penguin Adventure', 'Knightmare', 'The Treasure of
Usas', 'Firebird', 'The Maze of Galious', to quote some titles
unavailable outside the MSX world. 'Penguin Adventure' has Mr.
Kojima behind it, for example. Konami was so into Sound Design
and Music, that included a Custom Sound Chip (called SCC) into
their Rom Cartridges that expanded the 4 channels found on the
MSX up to 9 adding 5 extra channels. And they really did use that
added hardware bringing into the games some of the best music
you've ever hearded into a videogame, just for the sake of
highlighting the custom hardware.

So yes, I'm quite biased towards Konami and the MSX. But this
comes for a reason, one I've tried to emphasize with these 3
mixes I've done into this EP 'Push Space Key (A Konami Tribute)':
I just can't stand the feeling that all this incredible work just
doesn't get the recognition it trully deserves.

I'm preparing for a second EP 'Press F5 to continue (Another
Konami Tribute)'. (Obviously, you can imagine both sentences
'Push Space Key' and 'Press F5 to continue' were almost tied to
every Konami game written for the MSX) The schedule is right now
'2012', so, anyone getting some more MSX love before then?

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